


In the Name of Love

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Series: Nuts and Dolts Week 2020 [6]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/F, Major Character Injury, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23581429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Soon after retreating into Mantle's crater caverns to escape the oncoming Grimm horde, Robyn and her huntresses come across something unusual deep in the caves.  They don't know what exactly Penny Polendina is protecting, but they're determined to reach out to her nonetheless.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Series: Nuts and Dolts Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691983
Comments: 3
Kudos: 79





	In the Name of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Day 6: Angst

Fifteen minutes into their silent advance into the crater tunnel, May whispers, “They’re just up ahead.”

Robyn nods.“Her sensors will probably pick up on our presence before we see her.We need to be careful.May and I will go first, with our weapons sheathed.Fiona, Joanna, linger back, but stay ready.Penny’s a friend, so it shouldn’t come to a fight, but just in case it does…” she lets her statement go unfinished.

Penny Polendina isn’t someone Robyn wants to fight.Even after the massacre at the failed victory party, when it seemed like Penny was responsible for all the deaths, Robyn hadn’t completely considered the mechanical girl an enemy.She found it hard to believe Penny would do such a thing.On her own, at least.A direct, _inescapable_ order from Ironwood seemed more likely at the time, and then Robyn was more of the mind to go about freeing Penny from the general’s authority than deactivating her completely.

Finding out someone else entirely was responsible for the attack hadn’t come as a total surprise.

This is different.Though, if Robyn’s being honest, she’s not exactly sure what this _is_.Reports of an incoming giant Grimm whale surrounded by hordes of flying beringels led to chaos in Atlas, which granted her the opportunity to escape custody.She regrouped with her huntresses and start getting those left— _abandoned—_ in Mantle to safety.A freak snowstorm gave them enough cover to run for the crater mine caverns.Caverns that are far from ideal as a hiding spot, but the people of Mantle know, and can navigate, them far better than the Grimm, so they are their best hope.

Things settled in the quiet, tense way they do right before a siege truly sets in, and then everyone’s scrolls lit up with a warrant for Penny Polendina’s immediate arrest.Not a minute after that, May rushed to inform Robyn that she’d found Penny while scouting tunnels and Penny attacked her.

Aggression is definitely not normal for Penny.Robyn _knows_ something had to have happened to cause the abrupt change in character (and that something is likely related to the arrest warrant).She hates not knowing _what it is_.Again, Penny isn’t someone Robyn wants to fight.She will if it comes to that.But, mostly, Robyn just wishes she _had enough information_ to prevent the outcome.

The _shiiing_ of numerous blades unfolding right before she and May round the last bend makes Robyn grimace.She readies her weapon, but keeps it lowered.

“Penny, it’s Robyn Hill,” Robyn announces her presence.“We mean you no harm.”She walks around the corner to put herself in full view.She holds her hands up, palms open wide.

“Where are the others?”Penny’s voice doesn’t have it’s usual cheer.It doesn’t quite make it to ‘threatening’ either, but it comes extremely close.

“Penny.”Robyn slowly advances.“You know us.”

“Not another step!”Penny snaps.Fire sparks from nowhere and _engulfs Floating Array’s swords._ Robyn blinks, unbelieving of what she’s seeing, but, yes, the swords are now _on fire_ and green flames surround Penny’s eyes as well.“I need you, _all of you_ , to identify yourselves.Verbally. _Now_.”Penny commands.

“Okay,” Robyn agrees, trying to stay amicable.She signals to May.

May crosses her arms, but states, “May Marigold,” anyway, which seems to satisfy Penny.

“Joanna, Fiona,” Robyn calls back to the others.The two join her and May.Fiona speaks her name first, and then Joanna does.

Only after Penny has heard all four of them speak does she relax.The flames disappear from around Floating Array and her eyes.She keeps her swords out and at the ready.Robyn decides to consider it progress anyway.

“We did what you wanted, Penny.Now, help us understand.What’s going on here?”Robyn asks gently.

“I…” Penny looks away from her.Her eyes turned downcast.“I can’t…”

“You don’t have to be scared.”Fiona steps forward.“I think everyone here is, at least a little bit, of the situation on the surface.“Joanna snorts at her statement, but Fiona ignores her.“But we’re not alone either.Trust us, we can help you.”

Penny gazes at Fiona, and then back at Robyn.“You promise?You _promise_ you’ll help me?”

“It depends on what it is,” Robyn replies evenly.“If you need shelter, we’ll ask that you pitch in just as much as everyone else, but you’re welcome with us.If you’re going to ask us to turn ourselves in to Ironwood, that’s a hard ‘no’.”

“Oh no!Nothing like that!At all!I just need medical supplies!” Penny says in a rush.

“Medical supplies?But aren’t you…” Joanna searches for the right words, doesn’t find a polite way to say it, and just goes for blunt, “…a robot?”

“Well, yes, but they aren’t for me.”Penny’s eyes dart to a corner of the cavern, where three boulders rest in an unusually strategic position, almost as if someone had placed them there to block something from view.She notices the huntresses following her gaze, and quickly steps to block their view of the boulders.“A friend of mine needs them!And I said I would go out and search and bring back what I could find!So, if you could give me what I need, I can go back to my friend!Who is not here!”She hiccups.

Robyn frowns.“Right.Penny, if you want our help, you’re going to have to be completely honest with us.”She steps forward and holds out her hand.“So, tell me, you’re _not_ hiding anything behind those boulders?”

Penny steps back.“I…” she looks between all four of them again and gulps.“I want to trust you, but…but you have to promise you won’t hurt her!Promise me!Promise me, right now!”

Robyn advances, reaches over and takes Penny’s hand in her own, activates her semblance, and states, “We will not harm whoever you’re protecting.”Their hands light up green.“Okay?”

“Okay,” Penny stares at their hands a long moment.Then, she pulls out of Robyn’s grasp and leads her back to the boulders.

Robyn recognizes the pipsqueak before Penny says the name ‘Ruby’.Ruby is wrapped in makeshift bandages that are already starting to bleed through.She’s not conscious, but her breathing is steady.That’s good, at least.What’s not is the fact it looked like someone tried very hard to slash her eyes out.Whoever it was failed, but not before leaving Ruby with quite a few cuts that’ll leave some nasty scars.

“We need to get her to camp.”Robyn finishes her assessment.“Our medics can—“

“No!”Penny shouts.She freezes, realizing she just yelled at the person trying to help her.“I—you can’t!The one who—Neo Politan can change to look like other people!She…” Penny hesitates, and then continues in a quieter tone, “She can look like anyone. _Anyone_.The only way to know for sure is that she never speaks.She’ll…” Penny hugs herself.“Ruby isn’t safe anywhere Neo can get to.I _have_ to keep her away from other people. That’s the only way to stop Neo from finding her and finishing…”Her lower lip trembles.“Do you understand? _Please_?”

Robyn puts a hand on Penny’s shoulder.“I understand, but your friend needs more help than we can give her here.I know you’re scared, and that you think staying alone is the answer.It isn’t.It just means you have no backup when things go bad.Trust me.We’ll be discrete.May?”Robyn looks back to her.

May nods and comes forward.

“Joanna.Fiona.”Robyn addresses her other two huntresses.“Go back ahead of us.Find a doctor you trust and bring them to my tent.Tell them to prepare for a patient.”Robyn turns back to Penny.“We’ll keep you, both of you, concealed until you’re ready.No one will know you’ve joined us.Alright?”

Penny hesitates.She looks down at Ruby, and then back up at Robyn.Finally, she nods.Her eyes light up with green fire again.For a second, Robyn thinks she’s going to attack and braces herself.Penny doesn’t.She turns, closes her eyes in focus, and the earth surrounding Ruby rises into the air as a makeshift bed.

“We’re ready to go,” Penny tells Robyn.The earth holding Ruby follows her hand as it moves.

After she’s activated her semblance to conceal them as they travel, May whispers to Robyn, “That’s a new trick, right?She wasn’t able to do that before?”

* * *

The doctor finishes his preliminary examination of Ruby.“The girl’s wounds aren’t good, but not life threatening if we act now.”He rights himself, and nearly trips over Penny, who’s hovering by his elbow and peering over his shoulder to watch everything he’s doing.“Although it would be easier to work if I had _some space_.”He exhales and tells Penny, “I know you’re worried, but I assure you she’ll be _fine_.If you allow me to do my job _uninhibited_.”

“Come on, Penny.”Robyn puts a hand on Penny’s back and guides her towards the back exit of the tent.“I’ll wait outside with you.”

Penny takes one last worried look at Ruby, hesitates, but doesn’t protest.She follows Robyn out of the tent.They sit in awkward silence.Penny jerks up every other minute, depending on sounds coming from inside the tent.Robyn ends up keeping a hand on her shoulder to keep her from rushing back inside.

“So,” Robyn begins.“That stuff you did earlier, with the fire and the earth, that’s a neat trick.”

Penny stares down at her hands.“It’s magic.I…it’s hard to explain.”

“Well, we do have time.”Robyn offers a reassuring smile, which doesn’t seem to do the job it was intended for.

Penny seems to consider her options in her head, and then tells Robyn, “There are maidens, one for each season, who were once given enormous magical power.When one dies, the magic gets passed on to a successor.The Winter Maiden, her name was Fria.I was with her when…when she passed.”Penny holds up a hand and summons a flurry of snowflakes out of nowhere.“So, I have the magic now.”Her eyes turn downcast.“I wasn’t supposed to.None of this was…” she trails off.

Robyn prods gently, “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but, if you could tell me what happened?If there’s an attack coming, I need to know what to prepare for.” 

For a long moment, Penny doesn’t reply.Then, “General Ironwood…”Penny wraps her arms around herself.“He…he made a deal.With Salem.”She squeezes her eyes shut.“Silver-eyed people have a special power against the Grimm, so Salem wants them destroyed.”

Robyn has an idea where this is going, but she waits for Penny to say it anyway.

“Ironwood’s plan was to use the staff to raise Atlas, but he needed…”the next word, ‘me’, comes out so quietly Robyn isn’t sure she heard it at all.“…but I…I wasn’t there.I…” Penny inhales a large breath.“He ordered his ships to chase us and shoot us down.My father was…injured.In the crash.Ruby, she tried to protect me.There was too many of them.We were captured.”Penny starts to tremble.“But Salem was already here.Ironwood was out of time.”She balls her hands into fists.“So, he made a deal.He…he would hand over Ruby to her, if she gave him an extra hour.Salem agreed.”Penny presses her forehead against her knees.

Robyn wraps an arm around Penny’s shoulders and squeezes her gently.

“Neo came for Ruby,” Penny goes on.“Instead of taking her, Neo tried to kill her.I intervened.I couldn’t just let her…” Penny chokes up.“I called a snowstorm and got us out of there.I didn’t know where to go, so I hid.”She whimpers.“It’s all my fault.”

“Penny,” Robyn starts slowly.“No.None of this is your fault.”

“But, I—“

“It’s Ironwood’s. _He_ decided to abandon Mantle. _He_ decided to sacrifice Ruby.Not you.You did the right thing.You saved her.”

“I’m the reason she’s hurt!”Penny protests.“If I had just followed orders,if she hadn’t tried to protect me, if I…if we…” her voice goes quiet.“Neo chose me.When she attacked Ruby.She chose to look like me.Ruby—my death was hard for her.She _mourned_ me.She didn’t know.How could she?She couldn’t…Ruby _wouldn’t_ …even if it was Neo just using my face.”Penny stops and looks at Robyn.“I’m the reason Ruby is hurt,” she repeats.

“You’re also the reason she’s alive,” Robyn gently reminds her.

They fall into silence.

After some time, the doctor emerges from the tent.“I’ve done all I can for now,” he announces.“She’s resting now and will likely sleep for the next few—“Penny rushes into the tent before the doctor can finish the word ‘hours’.He huffs.“Do keep an eye on them,” he grumbles to Robyn before leaving.

…

Tentatively, Penny approaches Ruby’s bedside.She hesitates, and then places her hand overtop Ruby’s.“I’m sorry.For everything,” she whispers.

“Don’t be.”Ruby’s eyes flutter open.Her gaze is weary.She’ll likely fall asleep again in the next few minutes, but, for now, she’s awake.“You mean so much to me, Penny.You have no idea.I lov…” Ruby’s eyes drift closed again.

Penny kisses Ruby’s forehead.She murmurs, “I love you too.”She curls up in a makeshift seat that’s been placed by the cot and settles in.

There is much yet that has to be done.Atlas and Mantle need to be saved.Penny and Ruby need to find and reunite with their friends.What will perhaps be one of the biggest fights of their lives is still ahead of them.

For now, though, they will rest with the relative safety of knowing that the other one will be there when they wake up.


End file.
